Chapter 193 - Doing the Work (2)

The deputy fell silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, “The walls on the west and south sides of the town were destroyed. A large stretch of the residential districts over there has been reduced to ruins. Now that the beast tide has retreated, many commoners have gone home to retrieve their money and belongings, but some martial apprentices got there first and looted those things. Conflicts broke out, and some civilians have already been silenced. And more importantly, the beast cores and materials left behind by the demonic beasts outside the town are also being swallowed up bit by bit by those merchant caravans.”

After a brief silence, General Wang suddenly slammed his palm down on the desk before him.

BANG! The table snapped under his blow.

“Those bastards! When it came to helping defend the town, they were useless at best and worse than useless at worst. But now they come crawling out. How dare they?!”

After saying this, General Wang let out a long breath and gave a cold laugh.

“This matter is not a problem for now. Keep them steady for the time being. Have them hurry up and clear the corpses inside the town. As for those demonic beast cores and materials, let them take them. Let them take as much as they can. Once the reinforcements arrive, we will make them spit it all back out with interest. If they don’t, not one of them gets out of the town!”

The deputy cupped his fist in salute. “Yes, General.”

General Wang pondered for a moment, then added, “Remember, we are only turning a blind eye. Do not reach any official agreement with them.”

“Yes.”

“Anything else?”

The deputy thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, “General, Doctor Cheng just sent word that the Filth Cleansing Powder has been used up. If this continues, a plague will probably break out very soon.”

General Wang fell into thought, then said quietly, “Then have people move the corpses out of the town as quickly as possible.”

The deputy gently shook his head. “General, Doctor Cheng said moving them out probably won’t be enough. They have to be burned.”

“Burn them?” General Wang frowned.

The deputy looked around, then leaned close to General Wang’s ear and whispered, “Set up firebreaks inside the town, then burn all the corpses in the southern and western districts in one go.”

After hearing him, General Wang only asked, “If we burn them, can we be sure it will stop a plague from breaking out?”

The deputy shook his head. “It will only lower the chance.”

General Wang lowered his eyes. His callused fingers tapped lightly against the armrest of his chair. After a long while, he said in a low voice, “Go organize the men. Clear out an area...”

“General Wang!” The deputy cut him off, his tone growing heavier. “Even counting losses, there are tens of thousands of demonic beast cores and materials out there. If we sell them all, it will be enough for Sageridge to re-engrave the array patterns, maybe even train a new army.”

General Wang nodded. “I know.”

“Then why?”

General Wang looked at the deputy and forced a smile. “If the people are gone, then Sageridge will truly be gone. With casualties this heavy, the court will definitely send disaster relief. Go prepare.”

The deputy did not move.

General Wang frowned. “Li Chengqi, are you trying to disobey orders?”

The deputy gently shook his head and said quietly, “General, counting everyone who can still move, we only have a little over 200 brothers left. We simply don’t have enough hands. If you give an order like this, the merchant caravans and wandering bands in the town won’t agree.”

General Wang grinned coldly. “You think they dare rebel?”

The deputy shook his head. “They don’t dare. But they do dare to stand around and do nothing. With the men we have right now, there’s no way we can finish a project this big.”

General Wang fell silent. In the end, he could only sigh helplessly. “Leave. Let me sit alone for a while.”

The deputy stood where he was for several breaths, then cupped his fist in salute and said respectfully, “General, get some rest. I’ll take my leave first.”

With that, he turned and walked out of the main hall, leaving General Wang seated alone before the desk that had been broken in two.

ᯓ➤

A long while passed.

General Wang bent forward slightly and picked up the register of the dead and missing from the floor. Then he began turning through it page by page, carefully reading each one.

The faint rustle of pages echoed through the silent main hall.

Looking at the names written in that register, some familiar and some strange, his fists clenched little by little.

Ever since he had joined the army, he had been stationed in Sageridge.

Over the span of 27 years, he’d gone from Little Wang, to Brother Wang, to Uncle Wang.

He had seen the people behind every name in that register. Many of them had crossed paths with him before. Some had called him General Wang. Some had called him Uncle. Some had come back from the market beaming with joy, telling him they had found another bargain today and could make a tidy profit, enough to improve the barracks next year.

And now, all of them had become a few spare words in this register.

General Wang could not do what those high and mighty figures did and look at these young men as nothing more than numbers. Once, each and every one of them had been a living, breathing person standing right before his eyes.

Page after page... By the time he reached the last few pages, General Wang found it growing harder and harder to breathe.

A thick sense of suffocation seemed to wrap around his entire body.

“Myriad Manifestations Sect...” A low voice, as if squeezed out through shattered teeth, rang out in the silent main hall of the county office. The hand holding the register bulged with blue veins, but even so, the burly middle-aged man still could not bring himself to damage it.

No one knew how long passed before General Wang slowly picked up the brush from the floor. He dipped it lightly into the ink that had spilled across the ground, then opened the register. On the final row of the final page, he wrote down his own name.

After doing all this, General Wang leaned back gently in his chair and laughed under his breath. His laugh was calm, almost relieved. He was going to the Myriad Manifestations Sect to demand justice. Even though he knew full well that this trip would most likely end in death, the brothers in the barracks, the dead civilians, and this ruined Sageridge all needed an answer.

Thinking this, General Wang casually placed the register on the ground.

“General Wang, what are you planning to do?” A low voice sounded beside him.

General Wang’s pupils shrank slightly, but a moment later, he relaxed. He had recognized that familiar voice. Slowly, he rose and turned to look. “Young Master Zhou, when did you arrive?”

Behind him stood a handsome young master in bloodstained clothes, calmly watching him.

Xu Yuan did not answer. He swept a calm glance over him, then slowly stepped forward and picked up the register from the floor. He opened it and flipped through it for a while. When he saw the name on the final page, he sighed softly. “Actually, you don’t need to do this.”

General Wang said nothing.

Xu Yuan looked at him and asked, “You don’t believe the court will act against the Myriad Manifestations Sect?”

General Wang shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t believe it. I’ve stayed in Westpool Province for so many years. I know everything around here far too well. Moving against the Myriad Manifestations Sect would drag in far, far too many things. If Sageridge had truly been wiped out, then perhaps, for political reasons, the court would act against them. But with the situation as it is now, they most likely won’t. Sageridge needs disaster relief. It needs to be rebuilt...”

Xu Yuan raised his brows slightly and let out a soft sigh. “You’re right. The court really won’t act against the Myriad Manifestations Sect.”

General Wang smiled. He lowered his head and looked at his own callus-covered hands. “So someone has to do something.”